Italian blood flows through my veins ...

... at least twenty-five percent. That's why I invited the Italian mother of all yeasts to my bakery.

 

Lievito Madre

Lievito = yeast
Madre = mother

Although I am a patient person, I want a quick result this time. It usually takes 25 days to make a Lievito Madre. However, my biological experiment shall only take 5 days.

Lievito Madre belongs to the sour dough family. It is milder in taste, less acidic and the yeasts are more dominant. It can be made from wheat flour or spelt flour.

I decided to take whole wheat flour. Normally I would use type 550 / 630 flour.

 

Day 1

125 g (whole) wheat flour
50 g water (30 °C / 86 °F)
20 g honey
10 g extra virgin olive oil

First I stirred water, olive oil and honey together. Then I added 100 g flour and mixed everything with a wooden spoon. On the beech wood plate I kneaded the dough further and gradually added the rest of the flour. 

I kneaded the dough until it had an even, firm consistency. I formed a ball and rubbed it with some olive oil.

I put the dough ball into a tall canning jar and put the lid on loosely. 

I placed the jar in my proofer at 29 °C / 84.2 °F. It remains there for 24 hours.

 

Day 2 - 1

There was not much progress visible except that a light skin had evolved.

I opened the Lievito Madre "ball"

As you can see from the inner structure, something has happened in the last 24 hours.

I took 100 g from the middle, added 100 g whole wheat flour and 50 g water and kneaded everything until I had an homogeneous dough.

Then I formed a dough ball again and put it back into the jar and into the proofer.

Summary Day 2 - 1:
100 g Lievito Madre (starter)
100 g (whole) wheat flour
50 g water  (30 °C / 86 °F)

 

Day 2 - 2

I did the same as in the morning after 10 hours. Actually I wanted to do it after 12 hours, but I had to adapt the process to my time frame.

100 g Lievito Madre (starter)
100 g (whole) wheat flour
50 g water  (30 °C / 86 °F)

 

Day 3

My Lievito Madre was more active last night.

I repeated the steps again.

100 g Lievito Madre (starter)
100 g (whole) wheat flour
50 g water  (30 °C / 86 °F)

It will rest for 24 hours.

 

Day 4 - 1

100 g Lievito Madre (starter)
100 g (whole) wheat flour
50 g water  (30 °C / 86 °F)

It will rest for 12 hours.

 

Day 4 - 2

100 g Lievito Madre (starter)
100 g (whole) wheat flour
50 g water  (30 °C / 86 °F)

It will rest for 12 hours.

 

Day 5

100 g Lievito Madre (starter)
100 g (whole) wheat flour
50 g water  (30 °C / 86 °F)

It will rest for 24 hours.

 

The following day I added 100 g (whole) wheat flour and 50 g water to the 250 g Lievito Madre. Kneaded it all to a homogeneous dough and kept it warm again. That's what it looked like six hours later.

The work steps were always the same. Knead the three ingredients until the dough is homogeneous and firm. Form this into a ball and pour into the glass. From day 3 I have renounced the olive oil.

Now the Livieto Madre should be ready for baking. It is now stored in the fridge. After about 7 to 10 days it should be refreshed.

 

I "grew" my Lievito Madre in March this year. Since then I bake regularly with it and hardly use any additional yeast.